


The academy

by cool_ha_ha



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Ferengi, One Shot, Other, not graphic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:09:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25942627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cool_ha_ha/pseuds/cool_ha_ha
Summary: Nog fights with his Ferengi nature .. and looses
Kudos: 6





	The academy

It's not that he minds being on Earth, but it's so lonely. You’re either working or socialising, and Nog doesn’t know anyone. Sometimes he thinks it's because he’s a Ferengi, but then remembers this is starfleet. Anyone can join starfleet. Maybe Worf had a similar problem. But even if he did, look at all his achievements he thinks. To work on the enterprise, fight the Borg, develop Klingon to Federation alliance and now to do his part against the Dominion. 

That's what makes it worth it. Nog can put his talents to good use and show that his people are more than greedy scheming little trolls. He doesn’t know what a troll is, but he’s heard Quark and Rom get called it a few times.

Nog finds the bar. He couldn’t believe the academy had a bar when he first got here. Considering he’s spent most of his life in one, something about this doesn’t feel right. Probably because he’s not waiting tables and knocking on holosuite doors. It's just as lively though. Lots of small groups trying to forget about work for a few hours. He should go say hello.

After listening in on a hundred conversations, he can’t seem to find the right way to jump in. When did socialising become so hard? Maybe the problem is that a group dynamic has already been established and their conversations are unique to them. He can deal with that. Maybe he should try and talk to individuals. He starts looking around the room.

There are a few people sitting alone, but most of them are on some sort of Padd or have headphones in. That's the universal sign for “leave me alone”. There is one person he could talk to. A young woman in his class is sitting with an actual book. Maybe it's just the booze talking, but he thinks he can risk starting conversation with her. He gets to his feet and steadies himself before attempting to casually walk by.

“Hi” he waves. She looks up and smiles.  
“Hey.. You’re Nog, right?” She knows his name. He smiles and proudly stands before her.  
“Is anyone sitting here?” He points to the chair next to her.  
“No, be my guest” She’s being oddly friendly, but he doesn’t even care. He sits by her and checks out the text book. She's on a page describing engineering's connection to the warp core. “Just catching up” she says.  
“Little basic for someone in your league”  
She shrugs “Nice to recap the easy stuff don’t you think?” He can do nothing but agree.

“Can I get you a drink?” He’s about to stand. Feels like he’s back on DS9.  
“Oh, no, I’m good, thank you” she waves his offer away. He sits back down.  
“You know, it's funny, I heard someone say you were away this month” He laughs. It's not often he mishears something.  
“I actually leave tomorrow” she smiles back. That doesn’t make any sense, he saw her drop her bags off for transport yesterday night. It's funny actually that she’s reading on her own at the bar instead of her shared quarters. Unless she can’t get into her room.-- Nog squints.

While without inhibitions, he leans very close to her. She leans back a little bit but he keeps leaning, close and closer to her chest. Then jumps up to look her in the eyes.  
“You’re a changeling”  
“Don’t say it outloud” she talks through her teeth.  
“I thought there was something off about you” he smiles a little bit smugly.  
“What gave me away?”  
“No heartbeat, can’t get into your own room and you’re reading information you need to pass the entrance exam. We did that months ago”  
She looked angry with herself. “So what, are you going to report me? You know the minute you leave this room, I’ll shift and disappear..” she said. She had a point.  
“I’ll find you again. When you know what you’re looking for, it's not hard. Especially since I know a shapeshifter”  
She seemed even angrier to hear that. “You’re the cadet from that station near the wormhole, aren’t you?”  
He grinned and nodded. She looked away and frowned.  
“I thought we took his abilities. I’m surprised he’s still alive”  
“Odo is fine and he got his powers back” Nog was getting a bit giddy. He’s literally sat pissing off the enemy, but it feels so good, he doesn’t care. He’s had a few to drink, he’s got the upper hand and he’s proud of himself.

“What do you want?” She snaps  
“Nothing from you. I’m here to do my part in stopping the war. Why are YOU here?” He leans on his elbows.  
“I’m here to learn and report back to the link.”  
“You’re not going to learn any weaknesses in those books.”  
“I’m not interested in your pathetic little warp cores. I’m here to watch interactions” She closes the book. Nog waits to hear the rest. “It's been a few thousand years since anyone in the link went undercover and Odo gave us a few .. confusing humanoid behaviours” She looked at the table. Nog nodded.  
“So you basically forgot how people behave?”  
She nodded “Essentially”  
Nog raised an eyebrow. “What's so confusing about Odo’s life?”  
She straightened up as she spoke. “Do you know a Quark?”  
“My uncle”  
“Well Odo has some .. Mixed feelings about him. Then there's the barrel of emotions and experiences with the Major Kira. Then there's his feelings about Doctor Mora, Lwaxana Troi, a dead guy called Curzon- ”  
“So it's all relationships? You don’t know how relationships work?”  
“Odo complicates the matter”  
Nog nods. “I know the feeling”  
She shoots a look at him. “Confusion is normal for solids?”  
“Yeah. Relationships take practice and when your cultures don’t show affection the same way, it gets confusing” Nog sinks into his shoulders. She nods and processes this information. 

“Anyway, I should report this encounter” He starts getting up until she pulls him back down.  
“No, this has been the most valuable information I could have heard on my mission. I would like to talk more” she said, almost pleading. He shook her hand off him nearly falling from his tipsy state.  
“No, I’m not helping you learn to infiltrate better.” He said, offended by her offer. As he got up to storm off, she reached up and stroked his ear which immediately put him back on his ass.  
“Luckily your uncle told Odo all about this technique” she said, still stroking his ear.  
“Damn it Quark” He huffed out. “I’m a starfleet officer, I can’t be falling for bribes”  
“Ssshh…” She spoke quietly into his ear. “I have so much to learn, and this could be a very rewarding experience for the both of us” He shivered as her hand worked around his ear.

On the one hand, he’s a starfleet cadet, he had a duty and a promise to uphold, but on the other, he’s got a shapeshifter oo-moxing him in public with the promise of more. As much as he’d like to say he's better than this, his people have a saying.. “Beware the man who doesn’t make time for oo-mox”  
“We should go back to mine… ah.. People are staring…” While he’s kicking and huffing, she looks around. “You might be.. Affecting.. Her social life by- Ah.. interacting .. with me.. Like this”  
She let go and packed her bag. “Leave a window open, I’ll fly in later” And with that she stalked off as if none of it happened.

That night Nog waited in his room. There was something awful brewing in his guts. Guilt probably. The whole point of joining starfleet was to prove he’s more than this. That he can do the right thing without bribes, without profit, without going back to being a petty illiterate thief. Yet here he is, sitting, waiting for a bribe to arrive. His gods would be proud. 

He could go back on his word and report her right now, but then again, no good deed ever goes unpunished, a deal is a deal and every man has his price.

Maybe that's why he feels bad. He laughs to himself. He’s set the bar too low. Yeah, that's it. If he’s going to negotiate, he may as well make it worth his while.

Something black shoots through the window and melts as its lands, reforming as his classmate.  
“Hi” He nervously waves. She cocks her head.  
“You no longer seem so sure of our agreement”  
“I’m not fully sure what the agreement was” He tucks his legs up.  
“You keep your mouth shut about my little mission and I’ll be anyone you want for a few hours” She says putting her hand on her hip. Nog nearly melted. “So … Tell me what you like, and show me solids interact”  
*

Many hours later  
Quarks comm is beeping at him. He grumbles “ Answer it then… this better be important” He wanders through his living room to the console. “Lights” Then lets his eyes adjust to the screen.  
“Uncle”  
“Nog? What are you doing up this late? Or should I say early?”  
“Sorry for waking you, but I can’t call Jake and I know father wouldn’t be much help…”  
“What did you do?” Quark rests on his elbows awaiting Nog’s confession.  
“I- Uncle, what do you do when you’re torn between doing the right thing and doing the Ferengi thing?”  
“Pick the Ferengi thing, why?”  
Nog’s face fell into his hands.  
“Look, Nog, whatever you did, I’m sure we can fix it,” Quark says, trying to reassure him.  
“I’m a collaborator. I don’t deserve my uniform” Nog sobbed into the table.  
“Collaborator? Nog, what did you do?!” Quark was starting to worry  
“I fucked a changeling. Or maybe they fucked me? I’m not sure! I shouldn’t have done it” Nog still had his head down. Quark was stuck in disbelief.  
“How the hell did that happen? Was it an accident?”  
Nog shook his head with shame written all over his face. Quark was stuck between laughing and scolding him.  
“She- Him- They.. They needed some information clearing up in the link and I- I fell for a bribe” Nog started crying harder.  
“Was it good?”  
“Uncle!” Nog snapped tears running down his face  
“From a Ferengi stand point, you didn’t do anything wrong. You made a deal and stuck to the rules of acquisition” Quark shrugs “So the only regret you should have is if it was bad. Was it?”  
The sudden shift in tone made Nogs stomach churn, but after the night he just had, he should be laid out comatose still tingling. The fact that he has these damn morals keeping his Ferengi nature at bay is what stopped him from enjoying the experience fully.  
“Best I’ve ever had” Nog gave a weak nervous chuckle and wiped his eyes. “best I might ever have”  
“Okay, you can stop bragging” Quark smiled, Nog laughed.  
“Should I tell starfleet?”  
“Tell ‘em what? They have a changeling on the premises? If they didn’t already know that, I’d say they need to have a good look at their strategy in security” Quark leaned back on his chair.  
“I guess so. I only noticed because she didn’t have a pulse”  
“See. Look at you, already making yourself useful. Won't be long before your selling to both sides”  
“Uncle!”  
“What? War is good for business”  
“Peace is good for business”  
“Then what do you care? Either way you win.”  
Nog laughed again at Quark’s shallow view of the war. Ferengi don’t get involved in wars unless there's 100% chance of profit, so Nog really should take this as a pep talk. Quark showing the only positivity they know how to project that doesn’t come in the form of a spreadsheet.  
“Thank you uncle.”  
“Don’t worry about it, but can I ask how you managed to negotiate sex with a sexless being?” Quark looked genuinely interested.  
“Apparently Odo has some mixed up feelings- which he then passed on to the link-”  
“Were they about me?” Quark had a mischievous grin on his face  
“Not JUST you, uncle. Don’t tell Odo. They don’t think he’s ready to face those feelings yet”  
“I knew he loved me. I won’t say a word.”  
“I’ll let you go back to bed now. Sorry for waking you”  
Quark shook his head “Hey, don’t you forget, by your own peoples standards, you just pulled a 10/10 business deal. Dignity and an empty sack-”  
“- Is worth the sack, I know”  
“Good night, Nog”  
“G’night uncle”  
The call ended  
Quark sat staring at the black reflective surface  
He laughs to himself. “I’m gonna ruin him with this tomorrow”

Meanwhile, Nog is naked from the waist down in a chair in front of his console. He can still see the wet patch they left on the couch. He can still feel her touch lingering around his thighs, around his lobes, and he didn't even feel bad about it.

Now he’s alone and his head is quiet, he smiles to himself. He’d sign himself up for an event like tonight every night for the rest of his life if he could. A warm sensation runs through him. Without guilt to repress the good feelings, he quietly relives it in his head.

He supposes his price isn’t as low as he thought. If any Ferengi ever ends up with a changeling ever again, he hopes his teachings will give that person the same amazing night he got. No wonder Quarks got his eyes on Odo. The opportunities are endless, and he got to enjoy his portion of it.


End file.
